Starknet has activated its Shinobi upgrade on mainnet, delivering a pivotal step for privacy and scalability in the Layer 2 network. The update, known as Starknet v0.14.2, landed alongside a visible market response: STRK climbed 6.97% in 24 hours and nearly 12% over the week as confidence grew around the platform’s evolving role in privacy-first blockchain infrastructure.
Privacy features go live with Shinobi
Shinobi introduces native, in-protocol privacy capabilities. At its core is in-protocol proof verification, established by SNIP-36, which enables direct validation of STARK proofs inside smart contracts. Previously, these cryptographic proofs were often too large to process in a single transaction, requiring developers to break them into pieces and distribute the cost and effort across multiple blocks.
By making these proofs manageable, the update removes a key technical barrier and lets users show transactions’ validity on Starknet without exposing their balances or historical activity to the public blockchain. The network’s consensus now processes these off-chain execution proofs natively using new transaction fields. This provides a foundation for robust privacy at the network layer.
The upgrade also implements economic changes via SNIP-37: storage costs have increased, while the Layer 2 base gas price has been lowered. This economic recalibration is designed to discourage excessive use of state storage and to make typical transactions more affordable for ordinary users.
Starknet presented the Shinobi upgrade as bringing substantial change, stating,
“The Shinobi’s upgrade is now live on mainnet, introducing the protocol-level changes that make privacy natively possible on Starknet.”
STRK20, strkBTC, and decentralization roadmap
The Shinobi upgrade also paves the way for STRK20 and strkBTC. STRK20 will let any ERC-20 token on Starknet support private balances and transactions, allowing users to trade, stake, and transfer assets without disclosing sensitive financial data. This opens up a range of privacy-oriented DeFi use cases.
strkBTC aims to bring private Bitcoin operations into the Starknet ecosystem, letting BTC holders explore DeFi products while hiding their wallet histories from public view. Both projects will feature a compliance layer: a third-party audit firm will hold a viewing key to access transaction data as required by lawful requests, signaling a balance between privacy and regulatory demands.
The update also establishes groundwork for zkThreads, a technical component intended to further Starknet’s scaling ambitions. Additionally, changes to StarkGate contracts now align core ERC-20 event structures with broader industry standards, preparing Starknet for decentralized validation phases ahead.
Starknet was developed by StarkWare Industries, an Israeli technology company focused on scaling and privacy solutions for blockchain using zero-knowledge proofs. Since its launch, the platform has aimed to deliver high-throughput, low-cost, and privacy-enhanced experiences on Ethereum-compatible networks.
Market impact and STRK’s performance
STRK, Starknet’s native token, reflected the excitement around Shinobi with sharp upward moves. At the time of the upgrade, the token traded at $0.03731, gaining nearly 7% in a day and 11.88% across the previous week.
Trading volumes surged with the news, reaching $24,768,604 in just 24 hours—up over 76% compared to prior sessions. Over the week, STRK fluctuated between $0.03215 and $0.03774, with daily ranges tightening as anticipation for further privacy projects grew.
The rise in both STRK’s price and trading activity demonstrates strong interest around Shinobi and the rollout of privacy assets on Starknet. The team indicates launches for STRK20 and strkBTC are imminent.
With the Shinobi upgrade, Starknet enters a new chapter, offering network-level privacy and preparing for next-generation scaling and decentralized validation.
